Brea man charged with murder in friend's shooting death

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BREA A Brea man was charged with murder Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a friend who he said had burglarized his home, police say.

James Price, 56, is facing a felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Police on Tuesday arrested Price in connection to the death of 25-year-old Justin Soto, who was found by police officers lying in a Brea street with a gunshot wound to the stomach shortly after 9:30 p.m. on March 16. The officers were responding to reports of a gunshot in the 300 block of South Cedar Avenue.

The occupants of a nearby home where police say the shooting took place were detained and questioned but were released after the interviews were deemed inconclusive. Police say they identified and interviewed additional witnesses, which led to the arrest of Price on Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Price and his adult son lived at the Brea home, which had belonged to Price's recently deceased mother. A day before the shooting, prosecutors say, Price and his son suspected that Soto had burglarized their home and ransacked the mother's bedroom, which had been closed off since her death.

Prosecutors say that on the day of the shooting, Price's son invited Soto to the home, where they got into an argument with Soto and shot him in the leg.

Soto fell to the ground before getting up and trying to escape through a rear sliding door, prosecutors said, at which point, they say Price shot Soto twice in the back.

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